Another Letter to My Congressman Raul Labrador

During the campaign, President-elect Trump argued for a national reciprocity law that would require every state to recognize concealed carry permits issued by any other state, rather like the way they recognize driver's licenses issued by other states.  Please introduce such a bill.

Opponents will complain this overrides state power to make their own laws.  But the safe transit provision of the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986 (18 USC 926A) does something similar by allowing the transport of guns from state A to state B through state X if the possession of the gun is lawful in states A and B.  And of course, states already recognize out of state driver's licenses.  And the Supreme Court in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) has recognized that the "right to keep and bear arms" applies to the states, just like the rest of the Bill of Rights overwhelms state rights' claims.

Some will argue that this law would mean every state would have to recognize licenses from states with relatively lax concealed weapon permit laws, and which issue to residents of other states, such as Washington State.  If this objection is raised, the bill could specify that it only applies to non-residents of the state.  Federal law is already sufficient to prosecute convicted felons, domestic violence misdemeanants, and those prohibited on the other grounds listed in 18 USC 922(d).
The same objection about lax license laws equally applies with respect to driver's licenses which authorize people to operate a powerful and potentially lethal weapon on public roads.

There are a surprising number of tourists arrested and convicted in restrictive states such as New York and New Jersey for unknowingly violating the restrictive laws of these states.  This needs to stop.

Let me emphasize that the "limited to non-residents" idea is a compromise, just like some of the "shall-issue" laws were often complex and limiting at first, but were eventually improved with positive experience of the laws.